THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY
COALITION TO PROTECT AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS
NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION
ROCKY MOUNTAIN WILD
February 5, 2025
SUBMITTED VIA E-PLANNING
Melanie Barnes
State Director
Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico
(505) 954-2222
Project Contact: Cody Mccullah
cm*******@bl*.gov
Re: Comments on the New Mexico Bureau of Land Management 2025 Third Quarter Competitive Oil & Gas Lease Sale Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact (DOI-BLM-NM-P020-2024-1408-EA)
Dear State Director Barnes:
Thank you for the opportunity to submit these comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact (Draft FONSI) analyzing 16 nominated lease parcels involving 7,501.76 acres under consideration for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) New Mexico 2025 Third Quarter Oil and Gas Lease Sale. Our organizations and members are deeply invested in sound stewardship of public lands and committed to ensuring that public land management prioritizes the health and resilience of ecosystems, equitably benefits the public, addresses environmental justice, protects biodiversity, and mitigates the impacts of climate change.
We are grateful for both the recently released final Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process Rule (Leasing Rule) and the earlier release of several Instruction Memoranda (IMs) implementing program reforms and provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)1See Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, H.R. 5376, 117th Cong. §§ 50262–63 (2022). We appreciate the BLM’s attention to properly applying the Leasing Rule’s provisions and the IMs for this lease sale.
For the reasons discussed, we recommend deferring 15 parcels (along with the BLM’s proposed removal of NM-2025-07-0490 due to its location within an LEPC Habitat Area).
Click here to read the complete submission.